PBS

==Operations==
Even with its status as a non-profit<ref name=Miss /><ref name=Brit>{{cite encyclopaedia |title=Public Broadcasting Service |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Public-Broadcasting-Service |encyclopaedia=Britannica|date=September 15, 2023 }}</ref> and educational television network, PBS engages in program distribution, providing television content and related services to its member stations, each of which together cooperatively owns the network.<ref name=FAQ /> Unlike the affiliates for commercial TV networks, each non-profit PBS member station is charged with the responsibility of programming local content such as news, interviews, cultural, and [[public affairs (broadcasting)|public affairs]] programs for its individual market or state that supplements content provided by PBS and other public television distributors.

In a [[commercial broadcasting|commercial broadcast]] [[television network]] structure, affiliates give up portions of their local advertising airtime in exchange for carrying network programming, and the network pays its affiliates a share of the revenue it earns from advertising. By contrast, PBS member stations pay fees for the shows acquired and distributed by the national organization. Under this relationship, PBS member stations have greater latitude in local scheduling than their commercial broadcasting counterparts. Scheduling of PBS-distributed series may vary greatly depending on the market. This can be a source of tension as stations seek to preserve their localism, and PBS strives to market a consistent national lineup. However, PBS has a policy of "common carriage", which requires most stations to clear the national prime time programs on a common [[broadcast programming|programming]] schedule to market them nationally more effectively. Management at former [[Los Angeles]] member [[KCET]] cited unresolvable financial and programming disputes among its major reasons for leaving PBS after over 40 years in January 2011, although it would return to PBS in 2019.<ref>{{cite news |title=Los Angeles PBS affiliate KCET exits network fold to go independent |url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2010/10/sorry-charlie-rose-los-angeles-pbs-affiliate-kcet-exits-network-fold-to-go-independent-.html |author=Scott Collins |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=October 8, 2010 |access-date=March 12, 2015 |archive-date=April 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415153244/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2010/10/sorry-charlie-rose-los-angeles-pbs-affiliate-kcet-exits-network-fold-to-go-independent-.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

Although PBS has a set schedule of programming, particularly in regard to its [[prime time]] schedule, member stations reserve the right to schedule PBS-distributed programming in other time slots or not clear it at all if they choose to do so; few of the service's members carry all its programming. Most PBS stations [[Timeshift channel|timeshift]] some distributed programs. Once PBS accepts a program offered for distribution, PBS, rather than the originating member station, retains exclusive rebroadcasting rights during an agreed period. Suppliers, however, retain the right to sell the program's intellectual property in non-broadcast media such as [[DVD]]s, books, and sometimes PBS-[[merchandising|licensed merchandise]].